FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY - PAGE 5

You are hankering for seafood tonight. Should you order the swordfish steak? How about the shark or grilled salmon? Fish are good for your health, to be sure. And one species may taste better to you than all the others. But would you know which is the environmentally correct entree? The National Audubon Society can help. The environmental group is preparing to publish the "Seafood Lover's Almanac," a 98-page guide for consumers who want to eat fish with a clear conscience.

They brave exhaustion and hunger, storms and tall buildings. We're talking birds. And, now, it's migration time. The National Audubon Society tells us that from August to November each year, some 5 billion birds in North America (including songbirds, hummingbirds and raptors) make the big trek south, to their winter homes. Their flights are filled with peril, but those of us on the ground can help the winged ones have a safer journey with some (mostly minor) adjustments to our homes and lives.

Rock musicians do it. Actors do it. And now regular people can do it with a check. Ordinary citizens can now donate to their favorite groups by ordering checks imprinted with the name of the charity or cause. Every time a customer orders one of these special check series, 50 cents to $1 is donated to his or her favorite cause or group. The printing company Message Checks of Seattle, Wash., offers this service. Priscilla Fenton began Message Checks four years ago after realizing the program would be a great marketing and public-awareness tool for non-profit organizations.

Peter A.A. Berle, who spent decades fighting for open space and clean water as a New York state assemblyman, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and president of the National Audubon Society, died Thursday in Pittsfield, Mass. He was 69. Graham Cox, a longtime friend and former colleague at the conservation department and at Audubon, said Mr. Berle died of injuries suffered two months ago in an accident on the farm in Stockbridge, Mass., where Mr. Berle (pronounced Burly)

When Ed Beilfuss moved to Grayslake five years ago, the 450-acre field near his house had row upon row of corn, common on any Illinois farm. But after a multimillion-dollar restoration project the property has become part of a preserve and home to a variety of rare and endangered birds, earning it the designation "important birding area" from the National Audubon Society last year. Now Lake County Forest Preserve officials want to know exactly what types of birds are living at the Rollins Savanna Forest Preserve.

Jessica Jacko of Park Forest is only 9 years old, but she has a pretty clear idea of what's wrong in the world. "Acid rain, pollution and littering," she says, listing them in order. "They`re affecting our health and our environment." Her friend, 8-year-old Camille Barton of Chicago Heights, also is concerned about the environment, but says she thinks garbage, the ozone layer and pesticides are the worst problems. "If we bury garbage, it`ll soak down into our well water," she explains.

Smart cycling in the cold Regarding Rick Kogan's article on the "idiots" who ride their bikes in winter (Sidewalks, Nov. 18): I didn't bike for nearly 40 years, then started last year. I really got into it and rode through most of the winter. The main issue is the surface conditions, not the temperature. If one is cold, then one didn't put on enough clothes. Simple as that! STEPHAN V. BECHTOLSHEIM / Rolling Meadows - - - Audubon's 'dark side' An article in Sidewalks ("Audubon on the Avenue," Sept.

Earlene Mae "Penny" Eslick Hauser, 78, of Springfield, MO, passed away Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004 in St. John's Regional Health Center. She shared her lust for life with those she loved and will be deeply missed by many in Springfield, Tulsa and Chicago. Her legacy is the inspiration and joy she gave to all of those friends and neighbors who knew her. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you take a friend to lunch or dinner and tell him or her the things we often think of only after someone is gone.

It's a little like Jurassic Park without the dinosaurs. One spellbound visitor described it as "a million years from Miami." Most would agree that a visit to the National Audubon Society's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary on Florida's Gulf Coast is a fascinating journey through some of the country's most primeval wilderness. In fact, when the Pilgrims dropped anchor off the coast of Massachusetts in 1620, many of the virgin bald cypress at Corkscrew were already more than 300 years old. Today, the world's largest remaining stand includes trees as old as 700 years towering up to 130 feet.

An estimated 40,000 water birds have died, yet Javier Gomez still walks the fetid banks of the local reservoir, picking up more lifeless bodies. Sometimes Gomez detects faint life and brings the comatose bird to a makeshift rescue station a quarter-mile away. Most of the time, the birds are pitched into a mass grave, dusted with lime and then covered with trash, dumped by local residents who figure it beats the side of the road. The sights and smells can be revolting.